Write on 'Attunement' for Western Friend

Western Friend seeks articles, essays and reflections on Attunement.

Attunement can be a simple moment of knowing, feeling of alignment in your gut or heart. You can attune to a person, the moment, the task at hand. Attunement in the body feels open and warm, the muscles relax. Attunement is the clear and persistent ringing of a G major chord strummed on an acoustic guitar. To be attuned requires access to reality without distraction or denial. Attunement requires clear eyes and acceptance.

Among Friends attunement can be found in various practices. Gathering for Meeting for Worship, coming to a moment of understanding and unity in Meeting for Business, or the settled knowing at the conclusion of a clearness committee can bring a sense of attunement into life. A Quaker wedding can offer a sense of attunement not just to the couple but to the community at large who hold space for the union.

Attunement is also found in the larger decisions of life - relationships, marriage, professions, and feeling the call to be a parent all require an attunement to the circumstances of those choices. As we live into the ongoing reality of our lives, moving in and out of attunement with ourselves, the people we love, and our connection to spirit becomes a pattern and a practice.

Queries to consider:

When have you seen the energy of Attunement arise among Friends?

How do you return to attunement when dissonance enters your life?

How did you know you were attuned to a moment, a call, a relationship?

What Quaker practices have helped you find Attunement in your life?